Canadian Lawyer InHouse

35 canadianLawyErmag.com/inhousE august 2014 time had said: 'Find what you can do and go out and do it.'" As a result the cost savings have been sub- stantial and the result on success and hap- piness from the clients themselves has been positive. The reduction in fi rms has allowed for effi ciency. In his time at Superior Plus O'Reilly's reduction of legal expenditures today totals almost $1 million dollars, or 20 per cent, as well as consolidation of the number of law fi rms used by Superior across North Ameri- ca from 68 to 28 fi rms. "When I came in there were well over 75 fi rms," he says. "Each year we have had greater than 10 per cent reduction in legal spend as a result of internalization of exter- nal legal spend and identifying a different strategy on how we wanted to spend what ef- fectively became legal dollars," says O'Reilly. Some of the 28 fi rms who remain on the company's roster are there because they are working on a fi le that has been open eight-10 years. "In some cases we found it was not benefi cial to continue the relationship with that fi rm and in other circumstances the fi rm was excellent but we found leverage in that they didn't have offi ces in B.C. or Al- berta and in trying to ensure consistency many areas require a national and consistent approach," he says. The reduction of fi rms allowed for "tre- mendous effi ciency" as well as leveraging of "costs and benefi ts." O'Reilly credits "slow persistence over time" because many of the business units had strong relationships with their external counsel. But the reduction in number of fi rms used has resulted in greater control of the legal expertise provided to Superior, and the re- sponsiveness to client matters for issues that require provision to external counsel. O'Reilly has also led the development and implementation of new governance and employment policies and practices as well as advising on compliance training initiatives. After reviewing the existing governance policies, O'Reilly took the initiative to re- vise and update the governing policies for the Superior Plus organization, as well as assist the human resources group with their employment policies. A new code of busi- ness conduct & ethics was implemented, with corresponding training processes, and he introduced an anti-corruption policy and privacy policy to address areas of new fo- cus for regulators and shareholder advisors. These policies have addressed a number of best practices in conduct expected through- out the organization. In a similar vein, O'Reilly revised and updated the standard form agreements used by the Superior Propane and Superior Gas Liquids organization, including plain lan- guage modifi cations for clarity and simplic- ity in negotiation. These amendments also allowed for presentation to sales personnel to assist in their understanding of the agree- ments. Now, only those matters that require material change from the standard form re- quire review (which has led to a reduction in requests from the business clients). "Once you are in-house you're not just a lawyer, you are a businessperson who has le- gal expertise," says O'Reilly. "The idea was to use that experience to provide value to al- low people to have comfort." Introducing: SECOND SNAPSHOT '' '' t h E L aw y E r : Lorne O'Reilly t h E c o m pa n y: superior Plus Corp. • Department size: two lawyers in Calgary including O'Reilly, three commercial lawyers in toronto for the chemicals business. • Member association of general Counsel of alberta (2011 - current). • american Bar association and Business subsection (2011 - current). • In-House Counsel Network (2008 - current). • Canadian Bar association, and southern alberta subsections (2004 - current). • Part of the founding committee for starting the alberta Chapter of the association of Corporate Counsel. He is assisting the aCC and its chapter board to promote local and in-person training, networking and professional development that is relevant to in- house counsel in alberta. Each year we have had greater than 10 per cent reduction in legal spend as a result of internalization of external legal spend and identifying a different strategy on how we wanted to spend what effectively became legal dollars. LORNE O'REILLY, superior Plus.

• Cover